Musical Fidelity V-DAC Owners?
Jan 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM Post #691 of 887
Quote:

Originally Posted by Prog Rock Man /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Musical Fidelity kit tends not to do punch. The company owner regards bass power that overwhelms and leads the rest of the music not be true high fidelity. Bass is part of the rhythm section for the midrange, the emphasis being on the midrange.

Rather than punch you should get detail and lots of it. I can make out kick drums, bass notes very easily. Initially it did seem to lack dynamics, but I am used to it and prefer it now.



there is lots of detail. I think that thats it. But i am afraid to buy it, because when i don't like it after awhile, i am stuck with it.
 
Jan 26, 2010 at 2:51 PM Post #692 of 887
Quote:

Originally Posted by the limp man /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Ok, so if i get rid of the V-DAC for now, and go look for an amp to connect to the pre outs of my receiver, there is much more improvement?
And wil it work with my 5.1 setup for movies? I've read some things about HT pass thru.



Most likely it would improve with better amping. Why wouldn't it? Ultimately the sound quality is going to be dependent on the source, though.

As for "working" with 5.1, you'd just have to amp anything else you wanted amped. Usually it's enough to amp the mains and sometimes the center, sub if you want/need to, surrounds don't usually need to be amped. It just depends on what you want to do.

Maybe you should ask some advice on a home theater forum. AVS is pretty good (avsforum.com).
 
Jan 27, 2010 at 8:17 AM Post #693 of 887
I now use Monster I250 standard interlink. It sounds much better. There is much more definition and speed. I do have the idea that it sound a little screaming (is that the right word?) but i think it is just my imagination. I think i'm happy now. It is alot of money.

If i would buy a new receiver, will the sound with the V-DAC sound the same?
 
Jan 28, 2010 at 2:12 PM Post #694 of 887
I've been playing around with a pre-owned V-Dac for a few days now in the following system:

Foobar+Wasapi+FLAC -> USB-> V-Dac -> Musical Blue cables-> Heed Canamp -> AKG K701.

I'm comparing it to the Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard.

I'm hard pressed to hear any tonal differences in the sound. The V-Dac might be a tad bit warmer but I don't trust myself enough to really make such a claim.

I feel the Essence STX delivers the rhythm of a song better than the V-Dac. There's a sort of laziness/softness to drums especially in heavy music, such as on Death's The Sound of Perseverance album. The fast double-bass is delivered accurately timing-wise and with good punch from the STX while the V-Dac sort of slurs it all a bit. It's as if the punch is a bit late compared to the STX.

I'll be listening to it for a couple more weeks before deciding if it's a keeper or not, but currently I feel the STX is doing the better job for me.
 
Jan 29, 2010 at 3:37 PM Post #695 of 887
Quote:

Originally Posted by Divvy /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I've been playing around with a pre-owned V-Dac for a few days now in the following system:

Foobar+Wasapi+FLAC -> USB-> V-Dac -> Musical Blue cables-> Heed Canamp -> AKG K701.

I'm comparing it to the Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard.

I'm hard pressed to hear any tonal differences in the sound. The V-Dac might be a tad bit warmer but I don't trust myself enough to really make such a claim.

I feel the Essence STX delivers the rhythm of a song better than the V-Dac. There's a sort of laziness/softness to drums especially in heavy music, such as on Death's The Sound of Perseverance album. The fast double-bass is delivered accurately timing-wise and with good punch from the STX while the V-Dac sort of slurs it all a bit. It's as if the punch is a bit late compared to the STX.

I'll be listening to it for a couple more weeks before deciding if it's a keeper or not, but currently I feel the STX is doing the better job for me.



It felt the same for me. The low end was a bit sloppy. I'm now going to try a Xonar D2X and a Azurtech XFI Prelude. I hope that the asus and my denon are a better combination.
As i mentioned earlyer i dont use headphones. I listen music thru my speakers.

I do think that when you listen to jazz or other easy listening genre it will e perfect.
 
Jan 30, 2010 at 12:25 AM Post #697 of 887
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustvid /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I just got the V-DAC and the HRT+ yesterday. What is the burn in time for a DAC and how much time should it take? Anyone else compare these two DAC's?


I didn't notice much of a difference from burn-in for the V-DAC - but then again, I'm not a huge believer in long-term burn-in for electronic products to begin with. 50-100 hours should be plenty.
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Jan 30, 2010 at 12:50 AM Post #698 of 887
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustvid /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I just got the V-DAC and the HRT+ yesterday. What is the burn in time for a DAC and how much time should it take? Anyone else compare these two DAC's?


Mine took around 60 hrs. For me it was a night and day difference. Everything opened up and separation was crazy good after a couple days of letting it burn in.

Now here's the gobstopper...I only noticed this when using it through my speaker setup, as I don't use it with my head-fi gear. HTPC > tosLink > VDAC > Kenwood KAF-5002 (Japanese only audiophile grade int. amp) > speakers

This VDAC was the complete game changer in high end audiophile equipment...I was a hopeful skeptic before I got it. Not really expecting to hear a difference. Boy, was I wrong.
 
Jan 30, 2010 at 6:57 AM Post #700 of 887
Yup, have a signal running through it for a couple days straight. You don't need to turn the amp on for this. After a couple days of burn in, I came back from work and tried it out for the first time since I unpackaged it...I ended up spending the next 8 hours re-listening to music again. Something that I haven't done and years. I remember thinking to myself, "Damn, so this is what music is supposed to sound like!"
 
Jan 31, 2010 at 9:55 PM Post #701 of 887
After a few more days of long listening sessions and comparisons I've come to dislike this DAC. While the tonality is very warm and the dac is very easy to listen to, I think it quite frankly kills the musical energy in rhythmic recordings due to it's slowness. It's also too warm in conjunction with my Heed Canamp and K701's, leading to what is in my opinion a "stump" sound. There's no sparkle in the highs and the larger-than-life presentation of lower mids tends to drown out bass detail and impact.
triportsad.gif


The V-Dac's not for me. Now I wonder how the Heed Dactilus is...
 
Feb 13, 2010 at 5:22 PM Post #704 of 887
Well finally, i received my V-DAC yesterday (from this time). I will test it today to see how it is, and i will compare it with my XMOD...
 
Feb 13, 2010 at 8:55 PM Post #705 of 887
MF V-DAC->audio quest optical cable->cambridge 640A v2 amp->audioquest type 4 cables->martin logan preface-> test music ( Rickie Lee Jones-Pirates MFSL )

This little dac is incredible. The difference was very suprising. The cd instantly became warm with depth and dynamic. The dac focused in on the imaging and really put the vocals where they should be. Ive been A-B-ing back and forth with and without the V-dac for hours now with the same cd and same track. The dac really tops off my cambridge amp on both high and low ends. I finally have the mid range sound I've been looking for. This is the first time I heard this cd with so much contrast, the v-dac really brought it all together for me.

IMO, great dac, totally worth the $$$
 

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